The invention relates to a system for supplying and discharging fluids intended for processing.
A conventional system is disclosed in WO 99/45302 (corresponding to U.S. 2002134445A1), in which different devices for processing fluids, e.g., valves, pressure transducers or flow controllers, are mounted on an assembly side of a unit. The unit is used for supplying fluids to the device or for discharging the fluids from the device. For this purpose, the fluid supply and discharge unit has fluid lines that terminate at fluid ports on the assembly side, such that the devices for processing the fluid couple to the associated fluid ports when mounted.
In another conventional system disclosed in WO 01/36085 (corresponding to U.S. 2002186666A1), process modules that perform module-specific functions in connection with the processing of the fluids are mounted end to end. These modules are interconnected via a data bus on the control side and a fluid bus on the fluid side. The fluid bus, like the data bus, may consist of bus segments within the process modules, such that the corresponding bus is composed of the bus segments when the process modules are mounted end to end. Alternatively, the process modules may be individually connected to an external fluid bus via associated adapters.